


Fairy Tale Nightmare

by JasnNCarly



Category: All My Children
Genre: F/M, WIP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2007-05-26
Updated: 2007-05-26
Packaged: 2020-05-16 17:41:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19322980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JasnNCarly/pseuds/JasnNCarly
Summary: Old friends rely on each other when ghosts emerge.





	1. Chapter 1

"My...best friend married the love of my life?"  
  
The two of them sat in disbelief, trying to explain the inexplicable to a man presumed to be dead.  
  
"How can that be?" He bored his eyes into hers, affected by her endless apologetic tears, and drew in shaky breath, "Do you not love me anymore? Did you--did you just forget me, Greenlee?"  
  
"No!" She shot to her feet, approaching him quickly, and took his face into her hands, proclaiming softly, "No...I never forgot you. Not for a minute, not for a second."  
  
"But you married Ryan Lavery!"  
  
"I--I thought I lost you. But I never stopped--"  
  
"Lies, stop lying to me! I'm trying to figure out who the hell I am, and you're shacking up with him!"  
  
"She was waiting for you, Leo. I'm the one who--"  
  
"Shut up! You've got no say in this! This is between me and my..." Losing his composure, he returned his wounded eyes to Greenlee, "you're not even my wife anymore."  
  
"I am. I am. I still love you."  
  
Ryan stood by helpless, watching his wife beg for forgiveness from the true love of her life.   
  
"I can't believe this. I can't--I can't believe any of this."  
  
"Leo, please, just...listen to me, okay?"  
  
"Why? It's not going to mean anything while you're wearing his ring!" Pushing her hands away, Leo tightened his jaw and tore them both apart with one last hateful look, "The whole time I'll know you were loving him, laughing with him, making love to..."   
  
Without any further argument from anyone, Leo had grabbed his things and stormed out of their home.  
  
The second the door slammed behind him, her knees hit the floor, and Greenlee broke down in loud sobs.  
  
Ryan remained in place for a moment as she curled into the fetal position, calling out for him to come back.  
  
"Oh God....Leo....please...Leo...please..."  
  
Finally, unable to take her cries any longer, he carefully knelt beside her and reached out to touch her shoulder.  
  
"Get away from me!" Greenlee scooted away from his touch, quickly pulling herself into a seated position in the nearest corner, and shouted, "Just get away from me!"  
  
"Greenlee, we didn't do anything wrong. It hurts, but...we thought that--"  
  
"He isn't! He isn't dead, and I knew it! In my heart, I knew it! But I gave up! I gave up for you!"  
  
"Baby, please, let me help you."  
  
Burning him with a cold stare, she hissed a reply, "Get out."  
  
"Greenlee--"  
  
"I said," Her voice rose slowly, her hands running into and strangling her thick hair, and demanded, "GET OUT!!!"  
  
Frustrated, struggling with sad emotions of his own, he made a quiet exit.  
  
~*~  
  
"All right," She entered the room with a big bowl of fresh popcorn and plopped herself down on their comfy couch, "we have a choice. Action flick or chick flick."  
  
"So, explosions or romance, right?"  
  
"Basically."   
  
"Hmm..." Removing the popcorn from her lap, she slipped her arm around her waist and snuggled close to her. A smile emerged on her lips as she burned her eyes into hers, "well...Bianca, Miranda is sound asleep."  
  
Wide eyed, she played absolutely surprised and asked softly, "Maggie Stone, are you coming onto me?"  
  
"You're damn right I am."  
  
They shared a warm laugh, inching closer for a kiss, when the doorbell interrupted them.  
  
"Ugh!" She pulled away immediately, giving Bianca's amused expression a dirty look, before heading to the door, mumbling, "This better be good."  
  
The moment she saw the culprit, tears flooded her eyes.  
  
His awkward smile caused her to gasp in soft disbelief.  
  
"Maggie?" Bianca followed her to the entrance, sensing something was wrong, then found her answer staring back at them, "....Leo?"  
  
Waving timidly, he joked half heartedly, "Surprise."  
  
"Oh--my--God, Leo!" Bianca threw her arms around him and held on for dear life, whispering, "I can't believe you're really here."  
  
Leo smiled, looking over Bianca's shoulder to Maggie, and replied, "Yeah...a lot of people can't."   
  
~*~  
  
"I miss you, you know?"  
  
"Well...just think...soon I'll be home in Pine Valley. No pending Cambius disasters, and completely free to come home."  
  
Blushing slightly, twisting one of her many curls, she let out a soft sigh of relief, "Good to know you still consider this your home."  
  
"Sorry, Kendall, I'm the one guy in your life you won't be able to get rid of."  
  
"Just make sure you come home, Ethan. We'll discuss commitments after I have you safe and sound in the bed beside me, all right?"  
  
"Thank God, you're not distracting me."  
  
His joke caused her to chuckle, rolling her eyes in sweet dismissal, and took a deep breath, "I'll see you tonight?"  
  
"Nothing would be able to stop me."  
  
"I'll be waiting." Kendall whispered thoughtfully, concluding their conversation, and hung up the phone reluctantly.  
  
Holding the phone to her chest for a moment, she tried not to panic about how she felt.  
  
Ethan had been gone for almost two weeks, and she had missed him....well aware he would be back.  
  
Knowing he would be back, first chance, is probably what scared her the most.  
  
A sudden knock at her door brought her crashing out of her thoughts.  
  
But her fury soon followed when his voice accompanied the pounding of his fist.  
  
"Kendall, it's Ryan! Open the door!"  
  
"Ryan, don't you have a woman to drive crazy at home?!" Irritation soon replaced her happy emotions as she stomped to the door, complaining, "Because unless you've got another murder to pin on me or another Zach to put in prison, I seriously suggest you disa--" Swinging the door open, her eyes widened when finding a beaten man, "Oh my God, what happened to you?"  
  
Nursing his side carefully, he stepped into her place without an invitation and sighed, "You wouldn't believe me, if I told you."  
  
Kendall shut the door carefully behind him, watching as he fell into a seat on her sofa, "You look like you just got out of a bar fight."  
  
"That's because I did."  
  
"What? Just--hold a second, I'll go grab my first aid kit."  
  
Resting his head on the back of the couch, Ryan watched the room and world spin around him, out of control, and merely laughed in response, "Would you look at that?"  
  
"I don't know if I want to know about whatever domestic dispute you had with Greenpea, but..." Kendall sat on the edge of the coffee table, setting the kit beside her, and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her, "what the hell happened?"  
  
Ryan stared at her for a moment, noting the concern in her eyes, and flinched slightly as she touched the gauze to the cut above his eye.  
  
"Are you going to tell me, Ryan? Or do I have to kick your ass too?"  
  
"Leo's alive."  
  
His statement caused her to sit back in shock, "What?"  
  
"Yep." Ryan nodded slowly, wishing he had grabbed another bottle on the way to her place, and went on, "Showed up alive and well, right on our doorstep."  
  
"Tonight?"  
  
"Hence the bar fight."  
  
Kendall touched a clean piece of gauze, dampened by water, to the his split lip and tried to find the words.  
  
"Don't say your sorry, okay? I should be happy."  
  
"Happy?"  
  
"Yeah. My best friend's alive, Kendall! Greenlee and I were never married, and she has the man she always wanted to be with! To--to have kids with!"  
  
Again, she stilled during his outburst.  
  
"I have no right to be hurt or angry! They're the ones going through this! Not me! I just--I just convinced her that he was dead so I could have her all to myself."  
  
"That's not true, and you know it." Kendall bowed her head when he stared at her painfully expectant, insisting, "You helped her move on with her life because...you loved her."  
  
"And you know this right? Better than me and Greenlee?"  
  
"Yes, I do, because you two idiots threw it in my face about every five minutes." Pouring more disinfectant into her gauze, she suddenly touched his wounds angrily causing him to groan, "Shut up, you big baby, and sit still."  
  
He laughed softly at her demand and awaited while she finished attending to his wounds.   
  
But the silence sent his mind spinning, his emotions drained from the drama of the night.  
  
"So what's your next--"   
  
Before she could finish her thoughts, Ryan's head hit the nearest sofa pillow...and he was out cold.  
  
Kendall stared at him for a moment, clueless as to what to do, and released a sharp breath of annoyance.  
  
 _What the hell am I going to do now?_  
  
She struggled with the thought for a moment before leaving the room in a huff.  
  
After a moment, Kendall returned to his side and enveloped him in a spare blanket.  
  
A glance to the clock reminded her that Ethan would be home any time now, and she would have to explain her unconscious ex-boyfriend on the couch.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow...a lot happens while you're--" He hesitated, bouncing his eyes between them, dumbfounded by the information he had received, "dead."  
  
"Leo, something like this will take time I'm sure. I still--I can't believe I thought Miranda was gone. Now, she's here." Bianca intertwined her fingers with the delicate hand on her shoulder, meeting her eyes lovingly, "Or that we're together."  
  
"Oh, I could have told you that was coming." Their eyes shut to him, prompting him to playfully add, "You two have been set on each other from day one."  
  
"Like you and Greenlee." Bianca countered softly, staring at Leo sympathetically, and turned to Maggie, "Will you check on Miranda? I think I hear her upstairs."  
  
She caught the hint, smiling with a compliant nod, and headed upstairs, kissing Leo's cheek softly on the way, "I'm glad you're home."  
  
Once she was gone, Bianca returned her eyes to Leo, instructing him gently, "You have to go back to her. You two have got to talk about this."  
  
"I can't."  
  
"Leo, you love her. She loves you. Her and Ryan aren't--"  
  
"Bianca," He cut her off, staring towards her strongly, and repeated himself, "...I can't."  
  
A moment of silence passed between them, before she tried to approach him from a different angle.  
  
"I can't imagine what you're going through. So, I'm not going to pretend to understand. But...I know Greenlee loves you. She always has, and she always will."  
  
"And Ryan?"  
  
"I don't know. I think she may love him too."  
  
He let out a sharp laugh, leaning forward, and rested his elbows on his knees, burying his face in his hands.  
  
"But it's not like what you two had. Ryan...he helped her through a difficult time in her life. She had been through everything after your death and, all of the sudden, she was falling beneath the surface. Then, when she was in over her head, Ryan pulled her out of the water. That's all it was at first because I know, in my heart, he still loved Kendall. And she would never be over you."  
  
"She seems pretty over me."  
  
"She's not. You don't just...get over the love of your life."  
  
"Like you and Lena?"  
  
"No..." She hung her head in painful thoughts of the past, correcting him quietly, "like me and Maggie."  
  
Leo watched her carefully as she stood to her feet, obviously walking head on to the past.  
  
"Maggie was with Ryan's brother. And--he, um--he started to abuse her."  
  
"What?"  
  
Bianca eased his immediate anger with the signal of her hands, "It's okay. He can't hurt us anymore."  
  
Sitting slightly comfortable again, he exhaled.  
  
"But, the point is, Maggie pushed me away. She--she hated me, and I never gave up. Because I love her. I am--so in love with Maggie that..." Blinking back heavy tears, she held her locked hands to her chest, "I couldn't let go, no matter what she did. I had to save her, even if she wasn't going to be with me in the end."  
  
"...it isn't the same for me and Greenlee."  
  
"Right, because you know she's in love with you. She told you herself that she was."  
  
"She feels sorry for me, loyal to me."  
  
"And that's bad thing?"  
  
"If it makes her say those things, it is."  
  
"You know Greenlee better than anyone, past or present. Do you really believe she was lying to you?"  
  
"I don't know what to believe. This whole day has felt more surreal to me than anything else."  
  
"This is me. I want to help you understand, but I think the answers you need are with your wife."  
  
"Bianca, I just want to sleep and forget this day ever happened, okay?" He stared up at her, applying his best puppy dog face, and requested, "Will you let me stay here with you?"  
  
"You don't even have to ask."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"There's a guest room upsta--"  
  
"The couch is fine."  
  
"Oh no, you have had the day from hell." Tugging him off the couch, she lead him towards the stairs, "You are going to use the shower and sleep in a big comfy bed."  
  
Leo followed her helplessly, smiling for the first time in what seemed an eternity.  
  
~*~  
  
 _"For the first time in my life, I'm finding out what it feels like to be human. To care for somebody. To really, truly love someone. To love you - beyond reason, Greenlee. It's like- It's like free falling. Without a net. Without a safety. Falling into your arms."_  
  
Sniffling softly, Greenlee drew her knees to her chest and stared off into the distance.  
  
 _He was still so beautiful, so perfect._  
  
A soft sob escaped her with the thought of her presumably deceased husband, the man who had her whole heart.  
  
 _"I don't ever want us to end. I want you to take a leap of faith, and I want you to forget about everything you ever knew about me. Except for one thing. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please, Greenlee. Let me love you."_  
  
As she drowned in his voice, her big brown eyes could make out nothing but a blurry image of her memories.  
  
Every hour, every minute, every second that passed brought her closer to him...closer to everything they had.  
  
 _"We have the power to hurt each other or keep each other safe. And I know it's scary. And you're right. It might not work, Greenlee. But I promise you that I will never, ever hurt you and I will always keep you safe."_  
  
Clinging the blanket tighter around her tiny frame, she sunk further into the couch.  
  
Greenlee was unable to control it.  
  
Suddenly, her cries were overwhelming her.  
  
And, in the midst of it, she was surrounded by silence.  
  
The same silent aftermath she had to live through, when she had thought Leo was lost forever.  
  
~*~  
  
 _"Don't you get it, Leo? I love you. I never loved anyone, the way I love you. And that's why I've been out of my mind about you for months."  
  
"Greenlee, I just- I just don't know if-"  
  
"What? What? You think you don't deserve my love? You're not worthy, you're too selfish? Well, guess what. I don't care. I want you. I want you exactly how you are, and for who you are, and for what you are. You want to know something else? I actually like your dragonfly of a mother for the sole reason that she gave birth to the most amazing, gorgeous, incredible man who grew up and found me, of all people. Do you hear me? Am I getting through to you?"_  
  
Leo sighed heavily now, as he had then when they had the discussion.  
  
Shutting his eyes angrily, he continued to hear her through the heavy sprinkle of the shower.  
  
 _"I don't- I don't care what you've done. I don't care who you think you are. I know who I love, I love you. And there's nothing that you could tell me that could change that. So there you go. I'm laying my heart out there for you. Pick it up and give it back to me, or walk out that door and truly never, ever come near me again. It's your call."_  
  
Stepping out of the misty bathroom, he entered the guest bedroom and tried to forget it all.  
  
For so long, he fought to regain all these memories...only to wish he could forget them now.  
  
Suddenly, every touch and kiss felt so perfect that the idea of sharing her with anyone, losing her to anyone, drove him crazy.  
  
 _"I'll tell you what we have to be afraid of, Leo. Nothing. Because it's right with us. I don't have anything to worry about ever again, as long as I know that when I wake up in the morning and when I go to sleep at night, you're next to me. And if you're next to me as my husband, with a ring on your finger and another on mine, I'll know that I didn't try and make us happen. I let us happen. For once in my life, I didn't try to force something that wasn't there, I was just given a gift of what was."_  
  
The tears filled his eyes as he took a seat on the edge of the bed, recalling every detail of her proposal.  
  
 _"Listen to me, Leo. It won't be perfect. It can't be. But we could make it great. If you marry me, I'll screw something up at least once a day, and get forgiven. I'll burn some stupid dinner I never should have tried to cook, and you won't care. I'll lie on a beach, holding your hand while the water touches our feet, and I'll just squeeze your hand to let you know that all I want, ever, is to be next to you. And then you'll laugh at me and tell me I'm crazy. And you'll kiss me so hard that my knees will go weak."_  
  
Feeling a few stray tears slide off his cheeks, he tightened his jaw with the vision of Ryan at her side.  
  
Once glance at the two of them, standing in their home, he knew she had forgotten it all.  
  
Every promise, every vow, had been null and void.  
  
 _"If you stay with me, Leo, I'll have your children. And we'll raise them with all of the love that both of us never knew. I'll get stretch marks, and you won't care. I won't care. All I'll care about, is you. Let me make love to you forever, Leo. Let me be your wife."_  
  
Falling back to the bed, he stared up at the ceiling and tried to make a solid decision.  
  
 _Do I give us a chance to make this right? Or do I leave her to the life she's made?_  
  
~*~  
  
Ethan closed the door softly behind himself, letting out a long and relieved sigh.  
  
 _Home sweet home._  
  
Locking the door, he dropped his duffel bag by the door and cruised through the living room.   
  
Ethan paused at the bedroom door, gently pushing the slightly ajar door open all the way, and found exactly what he was looking for.  
  
Sound asleep, completely at peace, she lied comfortably in their bed.  
  
He soaked in her image for a moment, leaning against the door frame, and realized that all was right with the world.  
  
 _Absolutely beautiful._  
  
His last thought sent him to the kitchen, looking for something to cure the growl of his stomach.  
  
Moving silently among the kitchen, Ethan found what he was looking for.  
  
He stood in the kitchen, adjusting more and more to his surroundings, and finished off a random left over.  
  
But, just as he began to feel relaxed, he spotted something from the corner of his eye.  
  
Dropping his food, Ethan reached for the nearest form of protection and cautiously approached the couch.  
  
He frowned towards the rise and fall of a dark shape on the couch, barely visible in the moonlight.  
  
Shaking the man awake, Ethan placed the butcher knife to his throat and hissed, "Give me one reason not kill you where you lie."


	3. Chapter 3

The light switched on suddenly, her gasp soon followed.  
  
"Oh my god, Ethan, what are you doing?!"  
  
Kendall rushed to his side as he eased back to a stand, continuing to direct the knife point at Ryan.  
  
Meanwhile, sitting up, Ryan eased into the couch and looked to Kendall, "Is he always like this in the middle of the night? Or is it just when he hasn't had his warm milk?"  
  
"Ryan, now is not the time." Kendall snapped, tightening her robe around herself, and stepped between them, boring her eyes into her boyfriend's, "Ethan, put the knife down."  
  
"Why? I'm tired of this." Staring at her defiant ex, he stated strongly and definitively, "Him, his wife, and everyone else in this town who can't simply let you live your life, I'm through with it. He's trespassed for the  **last**  time."  
  
She held him back, placing her hands to his broad chest, and explained, "He needed to be here, and I let him."  
  
Stunned, Ethan lowered the knife and stared out her in disbelief, "What?"  
  
"Would you just come with me to the bedroom? We need to discuss this alone before--"  
  
"Save it, Kendall." Ryan interrupted them, standing to his feet quickly, and met Ethan's eyes angrily, "I'm not staying here. And I'm not going to live to owe your over reacting, emotional boyfriend a damn thing."  
  
"Hold on, this is my home and--"  
  
"I'm over reactive?" Cutting Kendall off mid sentence, Ethan let out a sharp laugh and retaliated, "What about you? You claim to be so done,  _so_ **over**  Kendall, yet you find every possible reason to keep her in your life! No matter how many times she's let you go, you find some way to make something else her problem! If it's your perfect life, why can't you just leave her out of it once and for all? Why must you keep dragging her in?"  
  
Kendall was tempted to step in but, again, she was cut off.  
  
"You don't know a thing about me. Or even your girlfriend for that matter."   
  
Dismissing him quickly, Ryan only glanced at her while making his exit.  
  
"Ryan, wait!" Shooting an angry glare back at Ethan, she rushed after him out the door, "Ryan."  
  
He froze in his tracks, hearing the door shut behind her, and slowly turned to face her.  
  
A pause fell between them, one were their eyes connected them for a moment...like they had so long ago.  
  
 _Understanding._  
  
Bowing his head with the thought, Ryan took a deep breath and spoke quietly, "I should thank you."  
  
"Don't thank me. Just tell me what's next."  
  
His eyes shot to hers, confused.  
  
"What are you going to do?" Shrugging her shoulders, she crossed her arm and allowed her concern to shine in her expression, "Where are you gonna go?"  
  
"Doesn't matter, as long as I'm not here, right?"  
  
"You kicked yourself out remember. I was about to go a couple rounds with Ethan and remind you both that this is  _ **my**_  place. I make the decisions."  
  
Her proclamation caused a small smile to appear on his lips, recalling her defiance both fondly and not so fondly.  
  
"Kendall, you don't owe me anything."  
  
"You're damn right I don't." Showing not a hint of amusement, she continued with absolute sincerity, "But I--I don't enjoy seeing you like this..." Rolling her eyes at his disbelieving gaze, she corrected, " _ **anymore**_ , all right?"  
  
"I get it." Ryan agreed, contemplating where the night would take him, and finally answered her, "I don't know what I'm going to do...I just I can't do it here."  
  
Rubbing her biceps warmly, she offered a sad yet supportive grin, "Good luck."  
  
He accepted her words with a nod, signaling inside, "You better get back to anger boy in there."  
  
Kendall headed in, turning away from him easily, and entered her home again.  
  
Waiting until the door had closed softly behind her, Ryan watched momentarily as Kendall and Ethan came face to face...jealously surging slightly through his veins.  
  
No matter how angry they were, they stared at each other with nothing but love.  
  
 _Will I ever have that with Greenlee again?_  
  
~*~   
  
"You want to tell me what that was all about?"  
  
Kendall snapped at him, infuriated by his machismo...but pleased by his protective nature, "Leo's alive."  
  
"Greenlee's first husband?"  
  
"Alive and home." She explained causing him to sit on the couch with an agape jaw, prompting her to unleash further, "And you just sent him out with nothing. If you found him here, if you  _knew_  I wanted him here, why would you jump on your soap box?"  
  
"Soap box? Kendall, I was defending you."  
  
"When I didn't need to be defended!" Her statement caused him to stare away, embarrassed and hurt. Letting out a long sigh, she approached him at a cautious pace, "Didn't it even occur to you that I was his  ** _very_**  last resort?"  
  
"Meaning? He gets to use you yet again?"  
  
"Meaning...he needed someone familiar to care. Even if it was for a split second, even if it eventually amounted to nothing, he needed  **me**  to care about what was happening to him...that his life just got completely ripped apart."  
  
"I'm sorry..." Meeting her eyes apologetically, Ethan reached for her hand, "it never occurred to me. And...I'm sorry for how I acted...for what's happening to him."  
  
Kendall sat on his lap, draping her arms around his neck, and kissed his lips softly. Afterward, pressing her forehead to his, she whispered, "Thank you."  
  
Accepting her in his warm embrace, he kissed her forehead tenderly.  
  
Kendall melted into him, at peace in his arms, and felt her heart slowly connect with her mind...wondering...  
  
 _What's going to happen to Ryan?_  
  
~*~  
  
  
She waited for the bedroom to close before asking, "Do you think you got through to him?"  
  
"I don't know, Maggie." Her girlfriend responded, uncomfortably, and made her way to bed, slipping under the covers with a sigh, "I tried, but...who knows how long it will be before he forgives everyone."  
  
Listening carefully to every word, her elbow propped her head up as she lied beside her.  
  
"I can't believe he's alive." Bianca closed her eyes tightly, thinking aloud without reserve, "And in...so much pain."  
  
Placing her free hand gently on hers, she waited for her tearful gaze to meet her own and offered quietly, "We'll help him through this. He's our family, and we'll make this okay for him....whatever it takes."  
  
Leo was Maggie's family, but she understood that Bianca was much closer to him....for her own reasons.  
  
Bianca was grateful for this.  
  
Reaching up to touch her cheek, she smiled slightly and reminded her comfortably, "I love you."  
  
Maggie grinned widely at this, responding playfully, "The feeling's mutual."  
  
Joining her lips in a soft kiss, Bianca forgot her worries lying down the hall and accepted her partner's distraction.


End file.
